Bill Gates and Steve Jobs Interviewed at All Things Digital

[50548]

If what he does is illegal, why don't you sue him, BRLawyer?
I really hate this 'if Gates does it, it must be bad, if Jobs does it, its good' attitude. If Gates ran his business like Jobs does (e.g., locking out other MP3 player manufacturers by making sure MediaPlayer doesn't work with their players) you'd be on the barricades... but since it's Jobs who does exactly that with iTunes, its good.

Honestly, we can be glad that Bill Gates runs Microsoft, and not Steve Jobs.

Is that an answer or a joke? MS has been sued and convicted by much bigger fish than a single individual, so your point is ridiculous.

Second: I didn't say that whatever Gates does is bad; I said that he can't and shouldn't be seen as a paladin now just because he gives away some of his fishy cash.

Third: What the heck are ya talking about? Are ya obliged to buy from iTunes? Are ya obliged to buy an iPod? Of course not. Much worse than any of that is to leverage your illegal monopolies by twisting open standards, as Gates did for a long time with HTML and many others...not to mention the illegal exclusivity agreements with OEMs. Just check out Be's lawsuit and see for yourself...no wonder MS paid them a lot of cash to shut up.

 

[72930]

he totally talked down to her in my opinion also. I also was a little annoyed with Jobs' manner. Gates seemed much more comfortable. Jobs is just so secretive i feel he doesnt want to give any ideas away so he gives what seem to be half answers.

If it was done after WWDC (assuming updates come across the board), Jobs could have really ripped into his stride...

 

[DMann]

Philanthropy

Are you saying that, as long as you have a cool and stylish iPhone, you don't care whether people die from AIDS or not?

Without question, the Bill, Melinda Gates/Buffet Foundation's $500,000,000 contribution to help those who have contracted the AIDS virus is unparalleled in history. Although this will help to extend the lives of those who have already contracted the virus, no amount of money will prevent the ensuing rape, AIDS child births, and promiscuity which continues to fuel this epidemic.

Incidentally, oxygenation/blood treatments have brought AIDS victims into remission quite consistently. However, none of this funding will be alloted toward this breakthrough. I truly wish that some of the $500,000,000 could be allocated toward eradication and better education instead of medication - perhaps then, their generosity would make a greater difference.

If the innovation of reliable computer platforms with a highly functional Operating System can inspire great minds, increase their productivity(reduce lost hours due to re-booting and crashes) and continue to propel research in the Medical and Science fields, then Steve Job's contributions far exceed the somewhat limited gesture of sending money toward a problem, but not to the very root of the problem.

 

[RnSK]

It never ends, does it?

Do you have ANY idea how much kick-ass technology has been killed due to Microsoft? Do you realize that we had network-aware GUI's in the eighties? Do you realize that we had operating-systems that did not crash? But thanks to Microsoft, there's HUGE amount of people who think it's perfectly acceptable that computers crash, that they get slow when they are infested with spyware... Do you realize that we have had GUI's since early eighties, yet thanks to Microsoft, mainstream computing got blessed with a crappy GUI about ten years later?

Thanks to Microsoft, large part of computer-users actually dislike computers. Thanks to Microsoft, we are DECADES behind where we could be. And now we should stand hand in hand and sing "Kumbayah" because Bill Gates is donating 20 billion dollars? I'm sorry, but that money comes nowhere near fixing the damage Microsoft has caused.

This is soooo irritating. Really. It shows 1. a lack of knowledge of the industry and 2. Fanboy distortion.

Let's clear up one thing right now...because when we do, you'll realize just how smart 1. Steve Jobs is 2. Bill Gates is and also, how utterly stupid Apple was from 1986-1997.

First off: Microsoft didn't steal Windows95 from Apple. During the early 90s Apple was more preoccupied with moving boxes via Sears and Computerland than expanding the state of the art software-wise.

THIS was in fact, coming from where Apple's vision went: NeXT in Redwood City.

If you go to YouTube, you should be able to find the NeXSTEP 3 demo video...from way back in 1992.

In it, you will see "the future" (which, is more like, 3-4 years ago) of computing. People seem to forget that in the early 90s, MacOS and Windows were UTTER CRAP.

Apple was so "anti-jobs" at that time that they didn't see that NeXT was engineering the future...but since Bill Gates knew where the hell the *good* ideas at Apple came from, he watch NeXT like a hawk. The Win32 UI is pretty much the NeXT UI, and a lot of its "hot" features were kinda what you would expect from an Operating Environment tied to DOS.

More of the core concepts of NeXT technology got out into the general market via MS' reimplimentations of them within the limits of their software environment than they ever did out of NeXT, so to "blame microsoft" for "holding back technology" for a decade is erroneous at best, and disingenuous at worse.

As for Apple, I mean this was going on in their own back yard, practically...but the couldn't see it; Gates and Co saw it clear up in Redmond. Funny that.

And another thing, too. I'm really tired of this moronic platform bickering that, quite frankly, after 13 years of watching this on the internet, even back to Joe Ragosta's distortions on usenet, its obvious that Mac OS users are antagonizing.

Yeah...I said it. I mean, you can be a proponent of anything you like, but the overly defensive, knee-jerkiness, and just plain distortion of facts that happens around Macdom is more than disturbing...its just plain mental at this point.

I watched that D5 interview...and you know what *I* saw? Two guys that started somewhere together, with a similar vision: to bring computing to everyone...whose paths diverged due to their own personal issues (I mean...these guys were *seriously young* when they made it big) who, after having years to look at it all, realized that they were both pretty much right in the grand scheme of things.

All of this "tension" is merely the fantasy extension of a bunch of people waiting for an epic battle that was fought long ago, before many of you even touched a computer. And you know what?

Apple and Microsoft *won it together*...the GUI, the Window/Icon/Mouse/Pointer way of computing has soundly trounced the old ways...everyone's better for it.

Steve Jobs can't give "props"? My God, that's all the man was DOING! Bill Gates "stole"? The man I think is Steve Jobs biggest fan. I mean they were there, at the beginning...they are still here...and its because they were both right...and stupid.

So lets see how far they've come:

Apple, has finally, finally, finally gotten over NIH Syndrome; they CAN work with others, they are NOT experts in everything...other people and companies in the industry know things too. Its about time.

Microsoft, God Bless them, is finally learning that you know, function and form are NOT mutually exclusive, and are spending some of that massive R&D to make things that are actually *good* and hiring people that actually understand that it matters. Surface screams "new direction"...Silverlight shows that "it matter more to make a replacement for something out there actually BETTER, not merely Microsoft."

Seems to me, everybody won. The only people that haven't figured this out yet are the "boys on the ground" carrying a cross that no one at the top is even concerned about anymore.

 

[RnSK]

Riiiight...

Why? Do you infer that Gates is responsible for AIDS policies in developing countries?

So he makes 50 billion out of illegal and monopolist practices, and now he is a saint because he gave 1 billion back in philanthropy?

So...all 50 Billion of that came from "evil monopolist practices"?

Here is a question that I want you to think about, and answer *honestly*...

Who has, in the grand scheme of the industry and personal computing, been harmed...I mean really?

Name names. I'd like to see how much of this is romantic fantasy, and how much is pure hyperbole.

 

[4God]

Don't know if it has been posted already or not, but here's an iTunes link to the video/audio podcast: LINK

 

[FF_productions]

Very interesting discussion indeed.

It makes me think differently about these 2 guys.

I love how the interviewers were trying to get Steve to reveal his secret plans.

The interview makes you re-think the entire purpose of having a computer.

Very interesting indeed. I'm looking forward to WWDC and his re-investment in desktops.

 

[MikeTheC]

The effects of Microsoft's business practices (and no, they're not alone in this -- sadly this is all too common for the business world) are that the average computer owner today has no proper or useful sense of technology perspective, and is a result of the fact that the majority of computer owners as of 2007 did not own a computer prior to 1994-5, and when they bought one they (en masse) bought DOS/Win 3.1 or Win95-based systems.

The fact that the public, in general terms, are a bunch of sheep that want to be led by someone else and are either unwilling or unable to use their own minds and be aware of what's taking place around them is not Microsoft's fault, of course; but they have absolutely taken advantage of the situation.

Now look at the state of affairs (related to computers) in the world today.

Tens -- no, hundreds -- of millions of people fighting with viruses and being hacked into and fighting turf wars of aggression across the world.

People who are actually doing both maintenance and defense to keep their computers going, but thinking that maintenance and defense are one in the same.

People who are so ignorant and uninformed and beaten down that they don't know and largely are unwilling to learn -- unless confronted and forced -- that there's a difference between having an OS-specific problem and having a "computer" problem.

People who are continually lulled into doing what they've been doing (that is, supporting Microsoft's vision of technology) even when better options are out there.

People who are so used to problems being the norm that they cannot conceive of an alternative OS which could possibly provide them with a better experience.

It is a tech world I wanted no part of, and one which as an occupation I share no longer.

The fact that as a society we now expect everything handed to us on a silver platter, with one-button-easyness and in a manner wherein we can keep our brains switched off; this I lay at the feet of both the general public and all those who have contributed to it.

Some legacy.

 

[OW22]

Sorry for re-hashing this, I watched the video on iTunes recently and wanted to see the comments on it.

Wonderful interview, fascinating to hear these two titans talk about the old days and see that they actually have a lot of respect for each other away form the silly Mac V Windows BS..

But I really wanted to post on this because of RnSK's post above. Mac post of 2007 IMHO! Outstanding post sir and so true.

 

[weblogik]

From the look of the notes it's a total love fest...we should all just wait for the movie. Hopefully Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal and Ang Lee can clear time in their schedules soon.

Ehm, scratch Heath Ledger from that list

 

[kuwisdelu]

Ehm, scratch Heath Ledger from that list

I KNOW :'(

 

[Bababasjd]

I wonder how much of a shadow Jobs is casting over Gates at the moment.

I think you mac crazy fans underestimate Bill Gates. It is only a matter of time until things turn again. We have seen this in history with AMD when all of the sudden Intel was attacked but intel managed and now AMD has been under the gun. Apple has always been under the gun and I dont see a reason why not in the near future it wont be, This can only go on for so much. And anyways Bill Gates is a better human being because he actually donates his money unlike steve jobs who says he makes 1 dollars but grosses a net worth a 7 billion. You will see by this year or the next it should be done. Companies will not invest millions to convert to apple it ownt be done ever. Do you know how many people at my school hate apples. The fact is the majoirty of the public loves windows, apples will NEVER gain that much marketshare. It should have a decrease this year or completely stop. That is unless apple does not intorduce another ipod. But other companies are catching on. All of the glory apple got in the recent years because of the ipod can disappear just as fast.

 

[FJ218700]

. . . anyways Bill Gates is a better human being because he actually donates his money unlike steve jobs who says he makes 1 dollars but grosses a net worth a 7 billion. . .

plus, he's dead sexy.

 

[dejo]

And anyways Bill Gates is a better human being because he actually donates his money unlike steve jobs who says he makes 1 dollars but grosses a net worth a 7 billion.

All we know is that Bill publicly admits how much money he's donating. Steve could be donating quite a bit too put doesn't make a public matter of it. The most gracious gift is the anonymous one.

 

[robotica]

Just rewatched this.

Those were some amazing times.